I’m noting more and more interest in search engine positioning lately, and from the discussions I’ve had I can tell basic positioning approaches are still misunderstood by many folks.

This article has a pretty good summary of what you should and should not do to improve your rankings, including:

• Do your keyword research.
• Select 3 - 5 phrases to optimize each page against.
• Write unique, compelling Titles for each page.
• Focus on unique content that adds value to users and incorporates sound SEO copywriting techniques.
Ensure site architecture and design do not prohibit thorough search engine crawling.Build high-quality, in-bound links.
• Keep working on it. SEO is not a one-time project. Continual growth in content, links, and pages is required for long-term success.
• And finally, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

What’s interesting about that list is how much of SEO really falls at the feet of the site owner and writer.  How a site is built, from a technical perspective, is still important - but can only go so far.

Content is still king.